Kevin McClatchy, who spent 11 ½ years as the managing general partner and chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh Pirates, spoke extensively with me at his home in Ligonier, Penn., about why he hid being gay for so long and about the persistent secrecy in professional sports.

I don't know you, but I know you are out there. Maybe you are a 14-year-old point guard in rural Texas, or a 15-year-old goalkeeper in a wealthy Philadelphia suburb, or a 16-year-old linebacker in inner-city Detroit. Maybe you are all those people. I don't know who you are or where you are, but I know you are young, you are an athlete and you are gay.

Playing fields have long been segregated on the basis of sex. But what happens to the athletes whose physiology doesn't match their gender identity? Against whom do they compete? What obstacles do they face? And how are they being treated by sports' governing bodies?

Orlando Cruzs story as an openly gay professional boxer. "I've been fighting for more than 24 years and as I continue my ascendant career, I want to be true to myself," he said. "I have always been and always will be a proud gay man."